Monthly Archives: December 2010

The President of IAFF Local 1397, Falmouth Firefighters, filed a lawsuit against the town of Falmouth and former town manager Robert L. Whritenour Jr. alleging that the town illegally accessed his department e-mail account. Russell R. Ferreira claims the town ...

The family of an Alabama EMT struck and killed two weeks ago has filed suit against the driver. Laura Pullam, of Lowndesboro was struck and killed by a pickup truck at the scene of an accident on December 15, 2010 on ...

A retired Lowell, Massachusetts fire captain has won a discrimination lawsuit against the Lowell Fire Department for refusing his request to be reinstated. The complicated story began in 1997 when Captain James McLaughlin was given a disability pension due to ...

The troubled Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District in Missouri is one step closer to solving the various legal disputes that have plagued it for the past few years. Formerly the Normandy Fire Protection District, Northeast was charged with violating ...

A New Hampshire fire chief charged with over forty theft related offenses has finally wrapped up all outstanding charges against him. Shawn Mitchell, who was a deputy chief in Concord and fire chief in Webster, pled guilty to one charge ...

Another municipality has been sued for failing to allocate sufficient funds to meet pension obligations. The trustees of the Harvey Firefighters Pension Fund in Harvey, Illinois, filed suit on December 17, 2010 in Cook County Circuit Court because the city failed ...

A volunteer firefighter from Ohio has been indicted as a result of a fatal accident he was involve in last July while responding to a building fire in his personally owned vehicle. A grand jury charged Firefighter Timothy Johnson, 41 with ...

The Village of Tarrytown, New York has been cited by state OSHA over a confined space rescue incident that took the lives of two employees, including one firefighter. The incident is eerily reminiscent of another recent incident from Indiana where ...

A volunteer firefighter in Lafayette, Georgia has been arrested and charged with one count of arson. However, Marvin Chase, 32, is a suspect in over 20 fires and is being referred to as a serial arsonist. According to one news report he admitted ...

The UK firefighter who was charged with manslaughter after his siren startled a herd of cattle last year, has pled guilty to lesser charge. Julian Lawford, a volunteer firefighter from the Devon and Somerset Fire Service, was responding to an ...

In a stunning development, the fire chief in Clearwater Florida has been terminated, charged with sexually molesting a minor over an extended period of time – perhaps as long as nine years. The allegations against former chief Jamie Douglas Geer ...

The fire chief in Sellersburg, Indiana has been replaced following an outburst at the scene of a LODD ambulance accident last week. A county EMT, David Gundle, was killed in the accident on December 8, 2010. Fire Chief Greg Dietz, who ...

A New York city EMT has pled guilty to charges associated with an incident related photo he posted on his Facebook page on May 13, 2009. Mark Musarella, 47, pled guilty to charges of disorderly conduct. He worked for the ...

A Jackson County, Florida fire captain was demoted on December 7, 2010 after he admitted to racing his personal car against another firefighter while on duty. Former captain Dennis Robinson waived his right to a hearing on the matter, and ...

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 40 years of fire service experience and 30 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.